starvation mode myth

magelan
magelan Posts: 12 Member
edited December 16 in Health and Weight Loss
The Starvation Myth
The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department
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Replies

  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
    I'm sure I'll get a lot of " flak" from this one.....but....it is just a line we use to rationalize eating more....if it were true , the opposite should hold true. if we eat too much are body would go into " dump the fat mode ".... seems my body skipped the memo on that one !
  • DeborahStanley
    DeborahStanley Posts: 90 Member
    Myth or not - my weight was stuck at exactly the same weight for three weeks whilst I was eating 1200 cals a day and working out, just increased calories to 1400 & lost a couple of pounds, no cheating or fiddling the figures I followed the same plan and had upto 200 cals extra a day.

    No idea why it worked but it has :)
  • mamitosami
    mamitosami Posts: 531 Member
    Why don't you at least post the actual article?
  • akiramezu
    akiramezu Posts: 278
    It's not about a starvation mode that your body goes through.
    It's more your body being able to be more efficient at storing fat for energy with what little food that it gets
    Our bodies are so well at adapting to the point that it's almost stupid
    Is starvation mode a myth? in the general sense, yes.
    But it is more a poorly worded phrase or whatever you call it then anything else.
    Perhaps we should call it a "highly efficient fat storing mode"
  • Wilson336
    Wilson336 Posts: 76
    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    You won't stop losing weight in starvation mode, but what you are completely missing the point on is what starvation mode means. It means your body begins breaking down more muscle instead of primarily fat, in order to try to give you the caloric energy you usually metabolize through eating food. Your body can only break down a certain amount of fat in one day. If that is not enough to keep up the calories needed, it also begins to break down muscle to make up the caloric difference.As you begin to "eat your own muscles" you still lose weight, simply because you are losing muscle mass. So yeah, starvation mode is great if you want to have no muscle tone, no strength, no energy, and still look flabby when you are underweight.
  • buzzcogs
    buzzcogs Posts: 296 Member
    Here is the link:
    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501

    Weight loss is not linear. Sometimes it takes weeks for results to show up.
  • sprhmnnumn
    sprhmnnumn Posts: 2 Member
    Society world has people brainwashed that if they eat less and workout more they will lose weight.
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
    Jokes! I upped mine and started to lose again too. 1200 is too little, body is not getting fuel, so it stalls.

    Weight Watchers makes money off keeping people fat. Lose 1 lbs eating our crap food? Sweet! Gain 2 lbs? Your fault. Eat more of our food and come to more of our meetings. BTW, your fees are due. Pay me.


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  • lilojoke
    lilojoke Posts: 427 Member
    I think all this crap talk about starvation mode just sucks! http://tinyurl.com/3hdaywv

    When are we going to learn to listen to our bodies vs listening to a forum or even a professional? ;)
  • seansquared
    seansquared Posts: 328 Member
    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    If you're going to post stupid ****, at least post pictures of kittens or something.
  • Toddrific
    Toddrific Posts: 1,114 Member
    I heard on NPR the other day that severe calorie restriction actually does permanently affect your metabolism.
    It was a while back, so i can't provide a link.

    The basic idea was, you had people that lost a large sum of weight quickly, a large sum slowly, and people that had been that weight normally. Those people that had lost a large sum quickly had to take in much less calories than the others to maintain the same weight.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    I heard on NPR the other day that severe calorie restriction actually does permanently affect your metabolism.
    It was a while back, so i can't provide a link.

    The basic idea was, you had people that lost a large sum of weight quickly, a large sum slowly, and people that had been that weight normally. Those people that had lost a large sum quickly had to take in much less calories than the others to maintain the same weight.

    This is because people who drop tons of weight quickly often lose their muscle mass thereby significantly reducing their BMR. It also makes them far more prone to gaining the weight back because it's so much harder to restrict when their metabolic rate is so low.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    It's not about a starvation mode that your body goes through.
    It's more your body being able to be more efficient at storing fat for energy with what little food that it gets
    Our bodies are so well at adapting to the point that it's almost stupid
    Is starvation mode a myth? in the general sense, yes.
    But it is more a poorly worded phrase or whatever you call it then anything else.
    Perhaps we should call it a "highly efficient fat storing mode"

    Could not have said it better myself... Society puts to much on the wording over the actual results..... but if some wants to believe that eating less and exercising more will get them to their goal then goodluck with that... But I will continuing to take my 500 calorie deficit to lose a pound a week off my BMR and continue to eat 800-1000 calories over that same BMR (2160) and yes that is eating back my exercise calories and I will continue to add to my weight loss ticker below.... Good Luck......
  • WorkoutMaine
    WorkoutMaine Posts: 91
    I have said it many times. We need to listen to our bodies, doctors, dentist, and our nutritionist. What we see in Forums especially involving 1200 calories and starvation mode should be discussed with these people only and any opinions on the forums should be ignored because it is only going to confuse and maybe even tick you off.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Myth or not - my weight was stuck at exactly the same weight for three weeks whilst I was eating 1200 cals a day and working out, just increased calories to 1400 & lost a couple of pounds, no cheating or fiddling the figures I followed the same plan and had upto 200 cals extra a day.

    No idea why it worked but it has :)

    Leptin
  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
    My point was !!!! don't use the "starvation mode theory" to up your calories.....stick to HEALTHY lifestyle plan and over time the weight will come off...don't tell me that you ate 300 calories more of potato chips and it fooled your body into losing weight. it's not rocket science....weight =calories consumed - calories expended over LONG TERM.....and getting the most out of the plan requires insuring you body gets the minimum requirements ....:wink:
  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
    you up it to 1400 calories which is still very low for an active person
  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
    one myth seems to be true !!!!! too little calories makes people cranky
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I hate the phrase starvation mode. I prefer to call it "sure, you'll still lose pounds, but a disproportionate amount will be from muscle mass so you'll look a lot worse when you get to your goal weight than you would have if you ate a little bit more and weren't so focused on the damn scale, not to mention that you're training your body to survive on a small amount of food, so you're going to be stuck 'dieting' just to maintain a healthy weight" mode.

    But it's a bit wordy.
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    If you're going to post stupid ****, at least post pictures of kittens or something.

    Lmao! I concur.
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    There's no doubt you can lose weight when at 1200 calories. No one disputes that. But you will also lose weight at 1600-1800-2000 calories. Read about the numerous people on here who do so.

    So my question is, if you can lose weight eating more why not do so?
  • KaleidoscopeEyes1056
    KaleidoscopeEyes1056 Posts: 2,996 Member
    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    If you're going to post stupid ****, at least post pictures of kittens or something.

    I second the kittens suggestion. I want to see kittens.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    Would you prefer the term adaptive thermogenesis?

    http://www.burnthefat.com/metabolic_damage.html
  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
    http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/
  • lilojoke
    lilojoke Posts: 427 Member
    I think we are all on the right path on what we are saying but what has been shown also is you can be on a reduced caloric diet, strength train, lose body fat and actually gain some muscle in the process. We only lose muscle if we do not use our bodies and do not strength train.

    The mantra "use it or lose it" exists with our bodies pretty much. When the body is challenging by lifting even on reduced calories it has no choice but to get stronger over time.

    What is dieting anyways??? I can eat 3000 calories and say that I am dieting... I can eat 3000 calories and say I am starving which clearly unless your at 5% body fat and compete your likely not to be starving. I can also eat 1500 calories and be stuffed to the maximum does that mean I am starving if I can't eat more? What do I do stuff myself until I explode just to get in what some dumb calculator tells me to eat?

    We all seem to children in here when it comes to this starvation mode stuff. Clearly none of us eating 1200 calories or whatever you may be eating is not in starvation mode unless your doing large amounts of exercise, lack sleep, are under stress and eat a crappy diet every day.
  • Amanda_Rae_Rae
    Amanda_Rae_Rae Posts: 109
    My doctor actually recommended me to eat a diet of only 900-1200 calories, however these 1000 calories are very low in fat and high in nutrition. I'm losing weight like crazy. I don't know if it's a myth or based on scientific data, but I guess everybody loses weight differently with different nutrition and fitness needs.
  • marynmarty
    marynmarty Posts: 89 Member
    I've heard about this myth and I keep trying to at least eat 1200 calories a week BUT the last two weeks I have been eating anywhere between 900-1100 so not even hitting my 1200 mark (which they say to try and do or you will go into starvation mode) but I can't bring myself to eat more if I'm not hungry. BUT in the last two weeks since I've eaten less I have lost 3.8 pounds. So I use to believe in that but seems when I eat less than 1200 I lose more. I think its different on each person.
  • BrettPGH
    BrettPGH Posts: 4,716 Member
    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    I am sure Weight Watchers does support that stance. And I suspect it's why I see people coming to MFP on a daily basis when WW isn't working for them.
  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
    sorry ....I can't buy into the notion that 1500 calories is "severe" dieting . ( unless you burn 2000 calories EXERCISING per day )

    I knew I was going to get some resistance. we all need crutches sometimes....smile more....it uses 2 calories
  • MisterDubs303
    MisterDubs303 Posts: 1,216 Member
    I hate the phrase starvation mode. I prefer to call it "sure, you'll still lose pounds, but a disproportionate amount will be from muscle mass so you'll look a lot worse when you get to your goal weight than you would have if you ate a little bit more and weren't so focused on the damn scale, not to mention that you're training your body to survive on a small amount of food, so you're going to be stuck 'dieting' just to maintain a healthy weight" mode.

    But it's a bit wordy.

    Perfect! :drinker:

    "Starvation Mode" haters typically grossly over-simplify or misinterpret the actual concept. By their definitions, "starvation mode" CAN be discounted as a myth, but those definitions are incomplete and short-sighted. Unfortunately, they usually don't address the actual dynamics involved that result in what contributes to the eventual problem. Oh well.
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